Document imaging is a technology that converts paper documents/information into electronic form where storage retrieval can be automated using standard computer technology. By capturing paper documents as electronic images stored by the computer, all the benefits and power of database, e-mail, networks, facsimile and memory storage technologies can be applied to what was once manually processed information.
Although image documents can be electronically filed using multiple index and filing methods and then quickly searched and retrieved and subsequently shared among multiple users, each task must be controlled and managed through a common application program. Typically, to open an application program involves loading object oriented programming controls (e.g., Microsoft Object Linking and Embedding “OLE” controls) and loading the operating system.
Briefly, OLE controls (called OCX's or ActiveX) are a type of OLE component standard. OCX's include properties, methods and events which enable programmers to add specific (well defined) functions to application programs. The functions enable end users to perform certain tasks on desired data. The self-contained objects (OCX's) are portable and insertable into any container or applications program. A “container application” or an OLE “control container” (and generally, “object container”) is any working computer program that is formed or has defined within it OLE components and objects.
Thus the loading, opening and running of an application program takes time and working memory.
In another example of image document search and retrieval, images and respective image information are stored on a database. The database supports a dedicated application program which searches and retrieves images in response to user command. Again the disadvantage of the dedicated application program is the time and working memory required to load the program before running it.